The International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research
ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
Media Coverage of The 2016 Presidential Elections In Zambia:
A Content Analysis Of The Zambia Daily Mail, New Vision
And Daily Nation Newspapers
(Paper ID: CFP/1195/2019)
1st Author: Brian Simpande
royallubemba@gmail.com
Department of Media Studies
School of Business/Humanities,
Information and Communications University
Lusaka, Zambia.
ABSTRACT: This study is a content analysis of the
state-owned Zambia Daily Mail and private-owned
New Vision and Daily Nation’s coverage of the 2016
presidential elections in Zambia. Principles of
quantitative and qualitative analysis were blended to
come up with the rich data presented in the study.
The principal goal of the study was to examine on
how the media, both state and private, covered the
2016 presidential elections with focus on the election
coverage in terms of tone, fairness and dominance of
stories. The study utilized the framing and agenda
setting theories as the bases for the analysis of the
stories. Data from interview questionnaires came
from the public and private media personnel of a
population size of 5 media respondents for qualitative
content analysis. From newspapers, data came from
a population size of all newspaper articles published
by the Zambia Daily Mail, New Vision and Daily
Nation newspapers, with a sample of 108 articles
identified and 167 stories analyzed from a
constructed week within the study period (May to
August 2016) for analysis. Excel data analysis was
used to enter the data by coders and analyze findings.
The data from these research tools was content and
thematically analyzed within the context of literature
review and the analytical framework adopted from
Media framing and Agenda setting theories.
Purposive sampling method was used to select
respondents while stratified sampling method was
used to select news articles. The findings indicated
that despite the ideological differences of each
newspaper audience, all the newspapers offered a
similar coverage of elections. There was a
correlation with newspaper content analysis and
Paper-ID: CFP/1195/2019 www.ijmdr.net
2nd Author: Mr. Kelvin Chibomba
Kelvin.chibomba@gmail.com
Research Department
School of Business/Humanities.
Information and Communications University
Lusaka, Zambia
media survey analysis in which Hakainde Hichilema
and Edgar Chagwa Lungu had more coverage
including their political parties. Bias and subjectivity
were evident in the number and type of stories, the
number and type of pictures and accompanying
captions, the number of stories about contesting
presidential candidates and the usage of language
(dominant tone) in the stories. Other findings based
on self-administered questionnaires indicated that
violence against journalists was one of the major
stumbling blocks in coverage of elections and
coverage was adversely affected by lack of both
financial and human resources especially by the
private media. This void of substantial news coverage
undermines a newspaper’s vital function.
Furthermore, less substantive stories limit
newspapers in their framing and agenda setting role.
From the findings, the study recommends that the
media must take deliberate measures to increase the
coverage of topics relevant to citizens’ choices of
who and which party to vote for. The media must
avoid the influence of commercialization of news and
pressure to generate profit which push the media to
preference ‘horse-race’ coverage as ‘Profit making’
kind of coverage which leave journalists open to
accusations of bias, the media should also be neutral
and not being pro-government in its functionality as
watch-dog and mediator between the people and the
government. Finally, media freedom should be
exercised by the ruling government so as not to
discourage reporters and editors for fear of being
raided by the ruling party.
Keywords: coverage, elections, watchdog, mediator,
profit making, horse race, commercialization.
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 The International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research
ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.0 OVERVIEW
This chapter gives a background of the study,
defines statement of problem, looks at the research
objectives and questions which shape the
methodology of this study, highlighting the
significance of the study, briefly reviews the
theoretical framework of the study, then
operational definitions of terms, and finally
delimitation and limitations of study and then
ethical considerations.
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
From the reinstitution of multi-party democracy
1991 in Zambia, the media landscape has been
liberalized. This too meant that access to diverse
sources of information enhanced dramatically. It
has seen the birth of more newspapers such as the
Daily Nation, The Mast, The News Diggers, The
New Vision etc. This includes Television stations
such as MUVI TV, Zambezi Magic, Diamond TV,
Prime TV to mention but a few including the
expansion of ZNBC with TV1 and TV2 not
forgetting the upcoming of new Radio stations such
as Hot FM, 5FM, Power FM, Yastani, Sky,
Maranatha Radio et cetera. Democracy has been
characterized by regular elections every five years.
As a matter of fact, Zambia can be considered as a
standard for stable and peaceful democratic
elections in Africa with minimal election-related
violence, malpractice, transparency, free and fair
and peaceful transition of regimes and governments
not until now that violence has become the order of
any election or political gathering.
The significant role of the media in covering
presidential elections was undertaken following the
2016 General Elections which were the first in
which Zambians would vote in five separate
ballots. These elections consisted of elections for
the President, 156-member National Assembly and
over 1,600 Local Government Councils, as well for
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the first time, directly electing Mayors/Council
Chairs. Additionally, a Referendum on the Bill of
Rights was conducted alongside the elections
(Zambia COG Report FN 2016: Zambia General
Elections and Referendum, p.5).
The 2016 presidential elections took place some
18 months after the last Presidential By-election, in
which the PF won by a very slim majority (1.66 per
cent of votes) (ibid, p.5). In retrospect the 2016
elections were widely expected to be a two-horse
race between the PF and the UPND, following the
disintegration of the MMD; notwithstanding the
presence of other parties having nominated
candidates, all indicators pointed to the possibility
of competitive elections between the incumbent PF
and the opposition party, the UPND. These
circumstances added to political tensions as
Zambia held one of the most highly anticipated and
fiercely contested general elections in recent times,
in which scrutiny of the performance and conduct
of the media was expected to be at its highest. The
general evidence showed that the trends of
polarization were at their worst in the weeks and
days towards and after the 11th August 2016 poll
as portrayed in the content carried by various
media. This was more so especially when it came
to the coverage and reporting on various political
bodies in the country. The political environment
leading up to the 2016 elections was highly
polarized, particularly between the two main
political party leaders, the ruling PF’s Edgar Lungu
and the main opposition party leader, the UPND’s
Hakainde Hichilema. Zambia COG Report FN
2016: Zambia General Elections and Referendum
(2016) report that: “…the stakes were very high
for both leading contenders owing to their personal
circumstances: UPND Leader Hakainde Hichilema
was running for President for the fifth time and
viewed the election to be his best shot at victory
yet, especially against the backdrop of the
closeness of the last election results and the
country’s current challenging economic indicators
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ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
that militated in his favour. On the PF side,
President Lungu was looking to consolidate his
position after 18 months in the State House,
following a fractious leadership battle in the
aftermath of President Sata’s death.” (p.5-6).
Without any misgiving, the 2016 election period
comes off as debatably the most crucial period in
the history of the media in Zambia in terms of
media’s performance and election related violence.
Coverage of elections was not balanced according
to empirical evidence in the MISA Zambia media
monitoring report released after the elections.
According to the report, “…the PF was given
undue coverage across all public media as nearly
half of the coverage was dedicated to it. UPND
received less than 30% of the coverage across all
public media outlets with ZNBC TV1 and ZNBC
Radio 2 allocating the least coverage to it.” (MISA
2016, p.11). Media houses such as the Post
Newspaper, Komboni Radio, Itezhi Tezhi Radio
and Muvi TV, had their licenses suspended this
was for what the IBA termed as "unprofessional
conduct posing a risk to national peace and
stability". The IBA cited section 29 (1) (j) of the
IBA amendment act of 2010 which cites that "the
IBA board may cancel a broadcasting license if the
cancellation of the license is necessary in the
interest of public safety, security, peace, welfare or
good order"(ibid). On 21 June 2016, The Post
newspaper, whose reporting was considered by
many stakeholders to have a strong critical voice
over the years, was closed by the Zambia Revenue
Authority (ZRA) over a K53.8 million (GBP £4.3
million) unpaid tax bill. (Zambia COG Report FN
2016: Zambia General Elections and
Referendum,2016, p.32). Stakeholders however,
believed the move was politically motivated due to
The Post’s criticism of the incumbent Government.
It should be noted that the Post continued limited
publication throughout the election period (ibid).
Subsequently, the decision of revoking the licenses
was later rescinded and the broadcasting licenses
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were given back to the affected media houses
except for The Post Newspaper.
Scholars have been analyzing the media and its
influence on political elections for over 40 years.
Studies have provided strong evidence that the
media not only tells the public how to think, but
what to think about (Cohen, 1963; Entman, 1993;
McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Notably, the media
prefers less substantial, tactic stories over more in-
depth policy coverage, and it bears a slightly
negative tone (Graber, 1976; Just, Crigler, & Buhr,
1999; Patterson, 2002). Most importantly, the topic
and tone coverage that a candidate receives, or how
he or she is framed by the media, can have an
impact on public opinion (Graber, 1988; Ross,
1992; Golan & Wanta, 2001). For instance, in a
recent study carried out on an evaluation of the
influence of the electronic and print media to voter
participation during elections in Zambia, Banda’s
findings were that voter participation is influenced
by the electronic and print media (Banda, 2016,
p.49). Media coverage is often the primary source
of political information for citizens. Therefore, the
role of the media in covering campaigns and
elections is a critical element in the process of
electing a president. The obligation of the media to
provide accurate and enough information to voters
is paramount.
Recent developments in election related
violence and media influence on democracy have
heightened the need for media content study.
Newspaper content analysis of presidential election
coverage is a classic need in current studies due to
the nature of political landscape and environment
in Zambia and elsewhere. Previous research
carried out with explicit focus on content analysis
of media outlets like ZNBC TV 1 main News,
MUVI TV main News, the Post Newspaper, Times
of Zambia and Zambia
Daily Mail, the findings indicated that 31
percent of news contents were election-related
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 The International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research
ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
stories that included campaign events, and 28
percent of the stories focused the electoral
processes as 9 percent of the stories were personal
attacks on candidates (MISA 2011). These findings
did indicate that the media in its coverage did not
cover most developmental issues in the country.
Most issues covered as can be seen from MISA
research of 2011 are electoral processes and
violence related. Media essentially is supposed to
give a balanced point of view of democratic issues.
Political tension sometimes results from injection
of news into the masses because the audience
cannot get a balanced view of democratic issues so
that people can exercise their democratic rights
with full knowledge. People choose to remain
democratically ambivalent in the face of critical
moments of deciding for the future of the nation.
The journalistic coverage of elections is more
than a news-story, as electoral process involves
crucial decisions about the future of a nation.
Critics commonly suggest that television and
newspaper should fulfill certain goals, such as
raising public awareness about AIDS, encouraging
interest in international affairs, or stimulating
community activism. In addition, media is believed
by many that it has a responsibility to strengthen
democracy, through political coverage that should
educate the public about the major issues, inform
citizens about the contenders for office, and
mobilize people to turnout. The role of the media
in covering politics, and specifically electoral
contests, remains central to political
communication research (Stromback et al, 2008).
Scholars have examined election coverage
across different countries and across different
elections. Many empirical studies have focused
their interest on the process of elections – the game
frame – which concentrates on personalities,
opinion polls and electoral tactics against coverage
of policy matters. The influence of commercial
pressures on media coverage cannot be overstated.
Commercialization of news and pressure to
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generate profit are seen to be the reasons in pushing
media outlets to preference ‘horse-race’ coverage
as was the case between the incumbent president,
Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the main opposition
party president, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema. While
commercial sensitivity might be considered a
concern for the privately-owned print sector, it has
been contended that, shackled by regulatory
requirements for balance and fairness, the
broadcast media may be even more inclined to
favor game coverage. In this regulated environment
offering interpretation on policy matters can leave
journalists open to accusations of bias (McNair,
2000). When there is a requirement for a certain
amount of ‘public interest’ news, there is an
incentive to make this as commercially viable as
possible, thus reducing the likelihood that election
coverage will be centered on discussion of
substantive policy issues.
The news media, and more precisely print
media, serve as valuable sources of information
and powerful modes of communication (Cissel,
2012). The media play a vital role in every
democracy and their importance in politics is
indispensable. The Canadian-based International
Development Research Centre (IDRC, 2008) for
example, postulates that the free flow of
information is the lifeblood of democracy. The
commencement of democratic and constitutional
governance in Zambia under the 6th Republican
has seen the media play cardinal roles such as
getting the citizenry informed on issues about
politics, especially during election periods.
Studies by Mughan and Gunther (2000), verify
that democratic citizens everywhere mostly depend
on the media and less on family, community and
other intermediary institutions as a primary source
of political information. Modern political
communication practices are extremely mediated,
and the mass media play a critical role as a
foremost source of political information for most
citizens (Norris, 2000). Albeit other methods of
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ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
direct communication exist, they have by no means
substituted the mass media (Plasser & Plasser,
2002). Zambia as a democratic state or country is a
classic example of these assertions thus it is not
surprising that during election periods, most people
are glued to their television and radio sets,
newspapers and currently the social media for
information. The newspaper, unlike television or
radio, produces information that the reader can
interpret at their leisure without any time constraint
(Carter, 2000). Davis (2004, p. 7) for instance
argues that: Newspapers may not have the reach of
the broadcast media, but they are important for at
least three reasons. First, newspapers are likely to
be the media of choice among 'opinion-makers'
who may influence others in their community.
Secondly, newspapers provide a deeper analysis
than is often possible on radio and television.
Thirdly, the press has an investigative capacity
unrivalled by the broadcast media – major stories
often 'break' in the press and are then taken up by
broadcast journalists.
In the 2016 general elections the petition from
the opposition party UPND was based on
arguments pertaining to both the electoral
environment, such as bias in the public media,
restrictions on movement and campaigning, as well
as alleged irregularities during polling, counting,
tallying, transmission and announcement of results
(MISA, 2016). This study focuses on the print
media in Zambia regarding examining how the
unprecedented 2016 presidential elections was
framed and the agenda set by the state owned
newspaper (Zambia Daily Mail) and private-owned
newspapers (New Vision and Daily Nation)
Newspapers with focus on level of prominence,
level of fairness and dominant tone of election
stories.
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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The nature of the 2016 elections and the post
protest of election results presented a test case for
many institutions in the country. Not only was the
country’s judicial system put to the test, but the
media was also faced with a challenge on reporting
on an issue that had no precedence. MISA Media
Alert, 3rd August 2016 quarter report that media
environment was not devoid of journalists being
harassed physically and otherwise. Noted, were
increased instances of hostile rhetoric by
candidates, politically-motivated violence by
supporters, and provocative media reporting, which
had an impact on the pre-election environment and
the ability of all parties and contestants to
campaign without hindrance. The Media Institute
of Zambia (MISA) found that the media continued
to receive sharp criticism from several quarters,
especially the opposition political parties, due to its
overly favorable coverage of the ruling party in the
news. Stakeholders questioned the role of the IBA
if it could not reign in on open abuse of the
airwaves by various broadcasters despite IBA
having issued directives that the media should
remain impartial as the country headed towards the
elections or else could go a long way in remedying
the status of media polarization (MISA 2016).
There is an increasing concern that the media is not
performing in accordance to principles of
watchdog, mediator between the government and
the public and that the majority citizens are being
disadvantaged. Since media organizations have
considerable influence on what and how people
think about the candidates and the issues related to
presidential elections, this raises an important
question: Are the media presenting a fair and
balanced picture? A study was needed to examine
on how the media covered the 2016 presidential
elections and what could be suggested on future
coverage of elections using an analysis of three
daily newspapers the Zambia Daily Mail, New
Vision and the Daily Nation.
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ISSN: 3471-7102, ISBN: 978-9982-70-318-5
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.3.1 Main objective
The main goal of this study was to investigate
how the media, both state and private, covered the
2016 presidential elections in Zambia with focus on
the election coverage in terms of prominence,
fairness and dominant tone of election stories.
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
2.0 Overview
This study examined how the Zambia Daily
Mail, New Vision and Daily Nation newspapers
covered the 2016 presidential elections in Zambia
pre and post. This chapter explains the method used
for collecting data for the study and discusses the
research design, sampling procedure, units of
analysis, coding scheme and procedure for data
analysis. To be able to respond to the research
questions within the theoretical perspective of
framing and agenda setting, the study was
conducted using mainly quantitative content
analysis but also supplemented by a qualitative
content analysis for balanced results.
3.1 Research design
When examining media coverage in presidential
elections, many past studies do so with a content
analysis (Just et al, 1999; Benoit et al, 2005;
Coleman & Banning, 2006; Golan & Wanta 2001;
Ross 1992). The content analysis method was used
to identify common themes and elements that
constituted the composition of media content
during the campaign, election and post-election
period. This helped to create a picture that shows
how the media performed in terms of the focus and
diversity of their content. Further, the data gathered
as such gave insights on the various media-related
issues that occurred and either directly or indirectly
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impacted on the media, journalists and their smooth
undertaking of their journalistic duties.
3.2 The news function Analysis of news in
content research method
The news function Analysis of news media is
used to study how the distribution of news sources,
gatekeeping, agenda-setting and agenda-building,
framing, and priming explain the functions of news
in the context of daily politics, elections, and civic
engagement in democratic societies. In this study
the focus was on framing and agenda setting.
Through systematic examination of what the news
media cover, we learn how the gatekeeping
function influences what is relevant for political
discussion. It is possible to explain what editors
block out from the coverage by comparing media
coverage with information from other sources. In
combination to the newspaper content analysis, in
this study a questionnaire survey was used; analysis
of the topics covered in news allows researchers to
show how the news media play a role in setting the
political agenda.
In comparative studies, systematic analysis of
content is used to study similarities and differences
and how they relate to differences in media and
political systems. Content analysis is often the
method of first choice in framing studies, with
scores of studies evident in the literature. From a
source perspective, political communication
scholars have used content analysis to explain how
complex political issues are presented and
packaged in accessible forms or as “clusters of
messages” (i.e., news frames; Entman, 1993).
Whereas, from a receiver perspective, scholars
have used the analysis of news content to show
how some meanings are preferred over other
competing meanings, thereby influencing public
opinion and voting behavior (Iyengar, 1991;
Semetko & Valkenburg 2000). Analyses of news
content in the studies on distribution of news
sources and news frames have explained how
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government officials and authoritative sources get
them message out and become primary definers of
the political issues.
Through a series of studies using content
analysis, Lance Bennett and others have shown that
news content with political import is “indexed” to
statements by official sources and more specifically
the governing elites (Bennett, Lawrence, &
Livingston, 2006). Even though large-scale studies
have not shown strong evidence of news media
bias, content analysis of news outlets has shown
evidence of bias toward partisan ideology or slant
in political coverage to nationalism and political
party (Schiffer,2006).
3.3 Justification of quantitative and
qualitative research method
Graber (2004) explains the dual nature of
content analysis as being both qualitative and
quantitative: Often, it is a mixture of both designed
to take advantage of the strengths of each approach
qualitative analysis has the advantage of allowing
researchers to employ many of the intuitive skills
for message interpretation that humans possess.
“These skills include understanding the
connotations that are attached to messages, sensing
their emotional impact, and spinning out widely
believed implications and their consequences”
(Graber, 2004, p. 53).
Graber also points out that while qualitative
interpretation can be subjective, it can be done
accurately with systematic interpretation and well-
defined criteria. (Graber, 2004, p.53). Quantitative
analysis provides this necessary framework. “[It]
involves establishing readily measurable,
minimally judgmental, criteria for defining the
message elements to be detected and the indicators
that signal the presence or absence of these
elements. Selection criteria are then used for
systematic examination of the chosen content”
(Graber, 2004, p. 54).
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Furthermore, Neuendorf and Kamar (2015, p.4)
explain that, “Quantitative and qualitative
approaches should be viewed as complementary.
However, there are crucial differences in the
sampling methodologies—message sampling in
quantitative content analysis tends to be
probability-based, to satisfy the requirement of
external validity.” They further add that, “Sampling
in qualitative approaches is purposive, and
theoretically informed. It is also informed by
context, structure, process, and form of political
message. For example, political messages in news,
blogs, comments, speeches, and advertising are
shaped by organizations and by structural
constraints of the medium (e.g., newspaper, cable
TV, broadcast TV, talk radio, public radio, online
news sources, social media, etcetera.)” (ibid). It
allows for recalibration as consequence of
reflexivity and constant comparison. Consequently,
the reliability of a qualitative coding scheme is
dependent on the researcher. The validity lies in
theoretically informed design and protocols,
including clear presentation of the rationale for
sampling, unit of analysis, coding scheme, and
textual analysis (including constant comparison and
contrast). (Neuendorf and Kamar,2002)
3.4 Quantitative content analysis
A quantitative content analysis method was
chosen because it is one of the most practical
methods for examining media content (Rife et al,
1998). There are several definitions for content
analysis (Wimmer & Dominick, 2011). Neuendorf
(2002) defines content analysis as the systematic,
objective, quantitative analysis of message
characteristics while Krippendorf (2004) defines it
as a research technique that is used for making
replicable and valid references from data to their
context. Also, the method of content analysis can
be defined as “the systematic assignment of
communication content to categorize according to
rules, and the analysis of relationships involving
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those categories using statistical method” (Riffe et
al, 2005, p. 3).
In cognizance of the notion that content analysis
is the methodology for making inferences by
objectively and systematically identifying specified
characteristics of message the researcher
considered it most appropriate to identify and
quantify framing patterns in the newspaper
coverage of the 2016 presidential elections. Babbie
(2009) asserts that content analysis is among the
most appropriate methods for studying processes or
events occurring over a long period of time.
Babbie’s assertion also influenced the selection of
the content analysis.
3.5 Qualitative content analysis
Interview schedules in form of self-administered
questionnaire method was used to place an
emphasis on the authenticity and quality of words
coming from source rather than the numbers and
percentages in the collection of data. The sources in
this case were deemed to experts in the field of
Journalism. As Babbie (2010) argued, “this
approach of data collection primarily stresses on
inductive approach to the relationship between
theory and research, in which the emphasis is on
the generation of theories.” This approach
(qualitative method) in addition to newspaper
content(quantitative method), was used on basis
that quantitative findings alone would not tell much
about the nature of media coverage of elections,
therefore it was important to provide more analysis
by highlighting some salient aspects that
characterised the coverage of elections. Qualitative
analysis of the findings was cardinal to give
perspective to the coverage. “Qualitative methods
rely on the interpretation and analysis of what
people do and say without making heavy use of
measurement or numerical analysis (Horning,
1996. p.5). The study therefore analysed various
aspects such as level of prominence of news
stories, level of fairness and tonal bias to assess
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whether the stories were positive, neutral or
negative. Creswell amplifies qualitative research as
follows: Qualitative research is an inquiry process
of understanding based on distinct methodological
traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human
problem. The researcher builds a complex, holistic
picture, analyses words, reports, detailed views of
informants, and conducts the study in a natural
setting, (Creswell 1998, p.15). In this regard, this
study employed a combination of content analysis
and in-depth interviews in form of self-
administered questionnaires.
3.6 Target population of study
Target population was designed for both
newspaper media content and respondents from the
media practitioners.
3.6.1 The universe or population for
newspaper content
The universe or population for this study was
all newspaper articles published by the Zambia
Daily Mail, New Vision and Daily Nation
newspapers within the study period. I chose 36
editions of the Zambia Daily Mail,36 editions of
the New Vision and 36 of the Daily Nation which
totals to 108 articles. According to Wimmer and
Dominick (2000), determining an adequate sample
size is one of the most controversial aspects of
sampling. But studies in content analysis reveal
that there is no standard for determining a
representative sample. However, Wimmer and
Dominick (2000) explain that the sample size may
largely be determined by factors such as the type,
purpose, complexity of study, the amount of
acceptable sampling errors as well as time and
financial constraints.
3.6.2 The universe or population for
respondents
The universe or population for this study for
media respondents was 05. What determine the
population is resource availability because larger
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samples in the case of Media studies are costlier
and involve a lot of bureaucratic procedures which
consumes time stalling the research process.
However, if precision of estimates are required,
larger samples are better for more precision.
3.7 Sampling methods
In this study, I used both purposive and
stratified sampling methods. These methods rely on
the judgment of the researcher in selecting the units
to be studied, (Lund and Lund, 2010). The
motivation for using purposive sampling is that it
enriches data (Gay and Airasian, 2000) by enabling
the person doing a study to experience a multitude
of points of view on an issue being studied
(Manning, 2000). In this vein, the researcher starts
with the assumption that context is critical and
purposely selects people to interview and/or events
to observe, which are expected to provide a rich
array of information. Nevertheless, purposive
sampling has limitations. O’Leary (2004), for
example, forwards two major weaknesses of
purposive sampling: unintentional biasness and
non-representativeness. Stratified sampling on the
other had allows the researcher to select a sample
which may largely be determined by factors such
as the type, purpose, complexity of study, the
amount of acceptable sampling errors as well as
time and financial constraints (Wimmer and
Dominick, 2000).
3.8 Media content sample
Quantitative frameworks for interpretation are
often laid out in a codebook guide, one of the most
important aspects in any content analysis.
“Preparing a codebook that describes in detail how
the research must be executed is a crucial aspect of
content analysis because the ultimate value of most
studies hinges on the insight and skill with which
variables that are important for the investigation
have been identified and defined.” (Graber, 2004,
p.55). According to Newbold et al. (2002) in
Media-Content Analysis, Asia Pacific Public
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Relations Journal, 6(1), 1–34, sampling for media
content analysis comprises three steps, propose: 1.
Selection of media forms (i.e. newspapers,
magazines, radio, TV, film) and genre (news,
current affairs, drama, soap opera, documentary,
and so on); 2. Selection of issues or dates (the
period); 3. Sampling of relevant content from
within those media (pp. 80–81).
3.8.1 Sample size and Sampling procedure
(Newspapers and Dates)
Taking into consideration the various factors
(especially time) that influences a sample size as
explained by Wimmer and Dominick (2000), the
sample size for this study was 36 editions of the
Zambia Daily Mail,36 editions of the New Vision
and 36 of the Daily Nation which totals to 108
articles. The selection of media houses had a
national scope. The targeted articles in this study
were general presidential election stories taken
from The Zambia Daily Mail, The New Vision and
Daily Nation newspapers. While the analysis
examined election news stories that is hard news,
letters to the editor, opinions etcetera (soft news)
was excluded.
The sample for the study was based on the most
read and circulated newspaper in Zambia. In
addition, the three newspapers were chosen
because of their different perceived ideologies
based on their ownership. The selection of state-
owned media is very strategic to facilitate analysis
in terms of content. The Zambia Daily Mail covers
almost all the parts of the country and The Daily
Nation was selected owing to being one of the
largest private owned Newspaper that equally
covers the whole country. In addition, the New
Vision is a newspaper that is private owned and
independent in its news coverage. Aside from the
reach and potential influence of these two
newspapers, their different audiences and
subsequent news coverage provide an interesting
basis for comparison. The data for this study were
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news stories published during the period between
May 1st, 2016 and August 31st, 2016. This chosen
period lies within the days of the campaign period
as declared by the Electoral Commission, it
however also includes the final polling or voting
day and the post-election days because of the delay
in announcing the election results and election
petition cases after campaigns and elections.
Accordingly, three (3) months May, July and
August 2016 was considered although it was
supposed to be four (4) months. The newspaper
articles for June 2016 presidential elections for
Zambia Daily mail was not available in stock at
time of research. They could have been accessed at
Zambia Daily Mail, but time was limited. The work
of Cummings (2006) guided this study in the use of
articles to construct a week out of each month
(May-August) in such a way that at most two from
each of all the publication days (Monday-Saturday)
within the study period was randomly selected for
representation in each month. This was done by
writing the dates of all the days in May 2016 on a
piece of paper. The papers were then folded and
dropped into a bowl. Afterwards the papers were
mixed up and two of the papers were picked, one at
a time. Record was kept of the date of each selected
paper and the paper dropped back into the bowl
before the next one was picked. Each time an
already drawn date was selected in subsequent
picks, it was ignored and dropped back into the
bowl until the required number of four days(dates)
in a month were selected. The process was repeated
for the rest of the days in July and August within
the study period. This method of sampling is called
Stratified composite samples constructed by
randomly selecting units for analysis (articles or
ads) from certain days or weeks over a period.
3.9 Media Respondent sample
The motivation for using purposive sampling is
that it enriches data (Gay and Airasian, 2000) by
enabling the person doing a study to experience a
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multitude of points of view on an issue being
studied (Manning, 2000). In this vein, the
researcher starts with the assumption that context is
critical and purposely selects people to interview
and/or events to observe, which are expected to
provide a rich array of information, (Lincoln and
Guba, 1985, p.200). Nevertheless, purposive
sampling has limitations. O’Leary (2004), for
example, forwards two major weaknesses of
purposive sampling: unintentional biasness and
non-representativeness.
3.9.1 Sample size and sampling procedure
(Respondents)
Similar with sample size consideration and time
in media content, the sample size for this study
from the media audience was 5 respondents i.e.
media representatives. I purposively chose the
media practitioners from different media outlets (5
respondents) based on their ability to furnish me
with rich information relevant to the research topic.
Nonetheless, purposive sampling has limitations.
O’Leary (2004), for example, forwards two major
weaknesses of purposive sampling: unintentional
biasness and non-representativeness. I interviewed
three Media practitioners i.e. journalists, media
representatives by administering an interview
questionnaire. However, out of the 5 people who
were to be interviewed, those successfully
interviewed were only 3. Two from the public
media i.e. ZNBC and ZANIS and the other one
from an independent private Media Firm. Others
did not respond.
3.10 Data collection methods and procedures
Data was collected through a coding sheet and
self-administered survey questionnaires. The use of
multiple sources increases confidence in the
interpretation of data; helps to confirm the validity
of study processes; and reduces biases that may
arise from using one method (Denzin and Lincoln,
2000).
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3.10.1 Data collection instruments collection focused on election stories published by

the published by the Zambia Daily Mail, New
In summary, Table 1 presents a summary of
Vision and Daily Nation newspapers on the
data collection tools with respect to respondents
presidential election within the time frame of the
and research questions
study. The content categories were, placement of
story, enhancement of story, fairness of story and
TABLE I.
tone of story.
Data Responden Research
3.10.3 Questionnaire distribution for
collection ts
respondents
tool
Structured self-administered Questionnaire
Objectiv Questio
distribution was another important data collection
e ns
method I used because it is a relatively cheaper and
covered covered
quicker method (Bryman, 2009, p.217). In addition,
Coding Published 1,2 and 1,2 and questionnaires were flexible in administration,
sheet Zambia 3 3 especially where the circumstances did not allow
Daily Mail, me to conduct one-on-one-interviews. Prior to
(document
New sending out the questionnaires, I was aware about
analysis)
Vision and the likely limitations of questionnaires that the
Daily researcher lacks the opportunity to probe the
Nation answers given; respondents lack the opportunity to
newspapers prompt the questions; some questions are not
Questionnai Media 1,2 and 1,2 and answered in the questionnaire; and some
re regulators, 3 3 respondents do not return the questionnaires back
Media to the researcher. Some respondents would equally
(self- object to such an interview schedule on basis of
administere representati time taking. Therefore, to enhance the effectiveness
ves and
d of questionnaires, I structured clear and easy to
questionnair Editors answer questions, accompanied with a guide on
e) how to answer the questions. I also ensured that I
used closed ended and short question with free
response and Yes and No response to ensure that I
Table 1: Summary of Data collection tools and did not bore my respondents (Bryman, 2008,
significance p.219).

(Source: Author’s compilation)

3.11 Data collection procedures: Newspaper
3.10.2 Coding sheet for newspapers
Content
Coding sheet with questions for newspaper
Unit of analysis is important in newspaper
content was used. The works of Lynch and Peer
content when collecting data. The unit of analysis
(2002), Amoakohene (2007) and Andrade (2006)
can be described as the smallest unit of a content
guided the formulation of the coding scheme for
analysis (Wimmer & Dominick, 2003). Any story
newspaper content analysis for this study. The data
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(straight news, editorial, opinion/column, letter to
the editor or an independent cartoon or picture. In
this case the unit of analysis was an election news
story published by the Zambia Daily Mail, New
Vision and Daily Nation newspapers that referred
to the 2016 presidential election within the study
period.
MISA and MLC (2016,) guided what an
election story is. Election stories were identified
using a two-step definition that included the
following:
Step 1: To qualify as an election-related story,
one of the following words must be used in the
story:
Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the
name of any political party, the name of any
political party official (parliamentarians,
councilors), or the name of any political party
candidate (including reference to current President
and any other candidate).
Step 2: Requires that each story passing Step 1
must also feature the words August 11 or August
seat or August polls or public office or 50 plus 1 or
‘election(s)’ or ‘electoral’ or ‘campaign(s)’ vote or
votes in 2016. If a story passes both Step 1 and
Step 2 then it shall qualify as an election-related
story and be included in the sample.
The researcher selected a sample of articles that
fell within the period under study because it is
“impossible to examine all relevant content units in
the population” (Krippendorff, 2004, p. 111). It
should be noted that the general election campaigns
for the president and members of parliament took
place at the same time. However, this study’s focus
was on the presidential and campaign elections
coverage, i.e. pre-campaign, election and post-
elections. Therefore, all news stories that involved
members of parliament were excluded, unless a
member of parliament made direct mention or
campaigned for any of the presidential candidate.
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3.11.1 Coding Process
Content analysis is basically a coding operation
that seeks to synthesize distinctive pieces of
information into a more comprehensive set of data
(Babbie, 2009). Wimmer and Dominick (2003)
explain coding as the placement of unit of analysis
into content categories. The units of analysis
identified during the data collection process were
assigned to various content categories on a coding
sheet (see Appendix C). The content categories
were operationally defined as follows:
1. Placement of the story– this refers to the page
on which a story was placed. The page on which
a story is placed has an influence on the
prominence of the story and the importance
readers may attach to it. For instance, Saunders
(2006) asserts that front page articles are often
reserved for the most high-profile candidates
and political personalities. Carter (2000) also
maintains that, the front pages is mostly viewed
as the major selling point of the newspaper, it is
what attracts the potential reader to buy the
paper and read further. The front-page stories
thus obviously gain more attention from readers
than stories on middle-spread. Story placement
was categorized into the following: front page
(lead), front page (other), back of front page
(page 2) and any other page.
2. Story Enhancement- this relates to whether a
story was accompanied by any image
(photograph) or not. The categories under this
were: story with photograph, story without
visual, story with a cartoon, stories accompanied
by photocopies of letter/document, stories with
photographs and photocopies of letter/visual and
stories with any other enhancement of story (the
number of pictures used).
3. Level of fairness (Bias) - this refers to whether
articles were heavily slanted towards one side or
neutral. For this study, slant is defined as
“selecting details that are fair or unfair to the
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subject being described” (Severin & Tankard,
2001, p. 101). Coverage stories would be
measured in this regard whether they are fair or
not by the number of times a political party,
presidential candidate and the number of
electoral stories were reported.
4. Tone of story (Valence): this measures the
general tone of the story as:
i. Positive (friendly, conciliatory, encouraging,
exhortation) for example “Zambia Known for
free, fair elections”, “Lungu Calls for National
healing,” “Church dispels rigging”, “Political
parties denounce violence”. (Zambia Daily Mail
and Daily Nation Newspapers, 2016)
ii. Negative (hostile, confrontational, adversarial)
for example “UPND cadres block road”,
“UPND Cadres hack PF Member (attackers also
threaten ECZ)”, “MMD Grabs vehicles”,
“Bembas are not fools”, “GBM Insults Bemba
Chief”. (Ibid)
iii. Neutral (using words that does not portray the
story with either a negative or a positive tone)
for example “Nevers faces Convention”, “High
Court Adjourns UPND, ECZ Case”, “Lungu
won’t vacate office,” “ECZ Explains
Referendum Flop”, “Auditors clear voter's
registers”. (Ibid)
3.11.2 Coding Reliability for quantitative
data
According to studies of Lynch and Peer (2002,
p.46), “Reliability in coding newspaper stories is
extremely important for the validity of your
analysis. Inter-coder reliability refers to the
consistency, or agreement, of coding between
coders. High intercoder reliability means that
coder X would code a given story the same way
coder Y did.” This implies that anyone (trained or
not!) reading the newspaper should observe the
same content and categorize it in the same way.
“Without high inter-coder reliability, you are open
to criticism of bias. (ibid)
Reliability is simply defined as consistency in
classification. In other words, reliability in coding
refers to the consistency of measurement
instruments; that is, the ability to arrive at the same
results every time, regardless of who is applying
the measurement instrument or when they are being
applied. The researcher engaged a trained
independent coder (a graduate student) to avoid
manipulation of the results who assisted in testing
for the reliability of the coding. About ten percent
(167 stories) of the sample from the study period
were randomly selected and tested for reliability.
3.12 Data collection procedures
(Respondents)
Before collection of data it is noted that studies
associated with relatively small samples (in this
study 5 respondents were chosen as a sample),
usually suffer from external validity therefore to
resolve this problem the researchers assess the
quality of their studies using trustworthiness and
authenticity instead of validity and reliability
(Lincoln and Guba 1994). So, the researcher made
sure that the factors discussed below were
observed.
3.12.1 Content trustworthiness for qualitative
data
Trustworthiness answers the question, “Are the
findings worth paying attention to? In his
publication on Social Research Methods, Bryman
(2008, p.377) explains that trustworthiness
comprises four criteria: (i) credibility (similar to
internal validity), (ii) transferability (similar to
external validity), (iii) dependability (similar to
reliability), and confirmability (similar to
objectivity). Bryman further clarifies authenticity
criteria as those which address the following issues
of wider political impact of study: (i) fairness of the
study in representing different viewpoints among

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members of social setting, (ii) ontological
authenticity, denoting whether the study helps
members to arrive at a better understanding of their
social setting, (iii) educative authenticity, alluding
to whether the study helps members to appreciate
better the perspectives of other members of their
social setting, and (iv) catalytic authenticity,
referring to whether the study act as a force to
members to engage an action to change their
circumstances.
I have outlined below the steps I took to ensure
the trustworthiness of the study.
3.12.2 Credibility
Credibility is an evaluation of whether the
research findings represent a credible conceptual
interpretation of the data drawn from the
participant’s original.
To try and uphold study credibility I took note
of the following:
• In the questionnaire, respondents were
regularly contacted through phone calls to
validate their views on issues that emerged
from the documents I analyzed.
• I triangulated the data sources: self-
administered questionnaires. Lincoln and
Guba (2000) maintain that within the same
paradigm, mixing data-collection methods is
sensible. Triangulation helped me to confirm
the sources of data. For example, I double-
checked information obtained from interview
self-administered questionnaires from
different respondents.
3.12.3 Transferability
Transferability is the degree to which the
findings can be generalized from the study sample
to the entire population (Polit and Hungler, 1991, p.
645). In as much as the ultimate determination of
transferability rests with future studies, this study
has addressed issues related to: (i) level of
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prominence, level of fairness and media’s dominant
tone of election coverage in Zambia (ii) a wide
selection of research respondents that included both
radio, TV and newspaper media (iii) possible
influences created by respondents’ official
positions, and (vi) respondents’ attitudes,
expectations, opinions, and emotions during the
interview.
3.12.4 Dependability
Dependability is an assessment of the quality of
the integrated processes of data collection, data
analysis, and theory generation. In this vein, the
researcher promoted dependability of the study by
engaging one peer. This peer monitored and
assessed the methods employed in this study and
gave the researcher feedback.
3.12.5 Confirmability
Confirmability is product check that helps
assure that data, interpretations, and findings are
grounded in the context from which they came. In
this light, the researcher kept a ‘Diary’ for logging
important activities, schedules, and dates that
otherwise might have been forgotten with the
passage of time. Further, digital transcripts of
newspapers using a camera phone were maintained
(see appendix E to G).
3.13 Data Analysis Procedure
The descriptive statistical method of analysis
was used in analyzing content categories. In
cognizance of the research objectives, Excel was
used to analyze coded categories from the content
analysis. I analyzed the data manually by coding,
categorization into themes and subthemes, and
made conclusions. Using the Excel, data from the
content analysis was converted into frequency
(percentage) and graphical tables as a way of
summarizing them into formats that can be easily
understood. The development of frequency tables
from the content analysis also helped to discover
and compare patterns and relations that emerged.
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Descriptive data analysis was also used in the
case of interview schedule data. Key text elements
studied included adjectives used in descriptions of
media coverage of elections (election stories), tonal
qualities (negative, neutral or positive) such as
aggressiveness, sarcasm and emotional language
which could have affected meaning taken from the
text. This is well supported by Schreier (2012) who
identifies the features of qualitative content
analysis as interpretive, naturalistic, situational,
reflexive, having emergent flexibility, inductive,
case-oriented, and putting emphasis on validity (p.
21). The method relies on identifying thematic
patterns in a text (i.e., message or set of messages).
The themes are not imposed upon the text from
outside (e.g. via a theoretically informed coding
scheme) or a priori, but they emerge as the
researcher undertakes a close reading of a text.
Once themes are identified the analyst looks for
thematic patterns in the text.
The lynch point in the use of two approaches for
their differing research goals as data is analyzed is
that the quantitative approaches privileges
predicting the nature, type, and potential outcomes
of political messages in media content, whereas the
qualitative approach privileges discovery and
affecting social and political change.
3.14 Delimitations of the study
The thesis was conducted using Newspaper
articles taken from The Zambia Daily Mail
newspaper, The New Vision newspaper and Daily
Nation newspaper. Among other informants (media
respondents) were from ZANIS, ZNBC and a
private media organisation.
3.15 Limitations of the study
This study had some limitations. The method
was incapable of determining for instance, why
editors reported the way they did and the effect of
the coverage on the opinion of the audience of the
newspaper. In future research, research should also
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be conducted on editor’s opinion in their reporting
style when it comes to elections.
A small sample was used few media
respondents in qualitative survey (Television
broadcasting institutions) though a larger sample
was designed. Eliciting response was difficult and
slow due to sensitive nature of the study.
Therefore, the findings of this study should be used
with caution and limited generalisation as it may
not be generalised to all media outlets in Zambia.
In addition, the study only covered the content
of newspaper media exclusive of electronic media
which would have also provided a broader
perspective and detailed insight. This study was not
able to provide such insight. Thus, it offered only a
glance at the news coverage of the 2016
presidential election in newspapers. There are also
many other newspapers in Zambia nationwide that
may have contained news articles about the
elections. To minimise biasness, the study
included interview data from qualitative analysis.
Only hard news stories were included in this
study. This could be limiting because the audience
or voters also read other types of stories such as
columns and editorials that discuss election related
issues and candidates and that may impact their
decision-making process.
Time factor was equally a limitation in the sense
that identifying and reading through the news
articles was very involving considering the use of
content analysis of analysing volumes of articles
from three newspaper media stations, going
through them issue by issue from both private and
public newspaper editions.
Moreover, the scarcity of newspapers was also a
challenge as demand of the papers during the 2016
elections made it a shortage in some resource
centres. The newspaper articles for June 2016
presidential elections for Zambia Daily mail was
not available at time of research at National
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Archives of Zambia as of 26th December 2018.
Thus three (3) months May, July and August 2016
was considered, although it was supposed to be
four (4) months, to avoid disparity of data when
making comparisons.
Interviews with the relevant staff or individual
practitioners conducted was difficult to collect
from the media fraternity and a select number of
individual practitioners. Some media personnel
objected to participating in the survey due to the
nature of the topic. The limitation of the study on
this part was that the response rate was very low
for the respondents as only 3 out of the expected 5
respondents turned in their feedback to tender
information as part of the survey.
Bureaucratic referrals due to general suspicions
stalled the research which was quite frustrating. At
the National Archives of Zambia, the first question
the researcher was asked was “What is this
research all about and why do you need the
broadcast news content of 2016?”, despite
submitting a letter from the institution that it was
purely for academic purposes. It had to take a bit of
time for the supervisor to come back and give a
consent of approval for the researcher to go ahead
with newspaper research.
Regardless of the limitations, the researcher
believes that this study has provided an insightful
view into the coverage of the 2016 election issues
in Zambia in its future presidential elections. It is
the hope of the researcher that the findings and
recommendations made will go a long way to
improve research in the media coverage of election
issues. The researcher considered this study as an
addition to the body of knowledge in the study of
framing and agenda-setting in newspaper coverage
of election issues.
3.16 Ethical considerations
According to Halai (2006), he plainly states that
research is mostly undertaken to generate
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knowledge and contribute to scholarship, policy,
practice and generally to the wellbeing of the
people who participate. It is not particularly
required because ethical issues mostly cut across
the qualitative-quantitative divide, but sound
research is a moral and ethical endeavor and should
be concerned with ensuring that the interests of
those participating in a study are not harmed
because of the research being done (Halai 2006,
p.5).
In this study ethics were observed to avoid
unnecessary and general suspicion from the public
(despite this, some media fraternity and
respondents objected to the invitation to
participate) on nature of research that it is not
harmful, and information obtained is purely for
scientific or academic purpose. All data collected
was not to be used against any media, political
entity or institution as a jurisdiction. Since the
study involved human research on perception or
opinion on the 2016 presidential elections, fair
subject selection was very important. The study
population was determined primarily based on
scientific goals of the study (participants who could
furnish with the information from the media) but
not - convenience, ethnicity, age, gender, literacy,
culture or economic status). Since client self-
determination and respect was noted the
respondents who felt that it was not proper did not
participate.
3.16.1 Letter of consent
A letter of consent was granted from the
Information Communication University to
undertake a content analysis research from relevant
sources.
3.16.2 Use of Consent Forms
To ensure that the respondents knew exactly
what they were getting themselves into, the
researcher served them with consent forms i.e.
questionnaires, in the introduction that highlighted
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the purpose and role that the respondents were Table 3. Number and placement of election
going to play in the interview process. stories
4.5 KEY FINDINGS FROM TABLE 4
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS (NEWSPAPER)
PAPER SECTION OF NEWSPAPER
4.5.1 LEVEL OF PROMINENCE
FRONT FRONT ANY
Research Question 1: PAGE PAGE OTHER
R.1: How did stories in the 2016 general (Other) PAGE
elections published in the Zambia Daily Mail, DAIY 66.1% 16.9% 16.9
New Vision and Daily Nation newspapers show MAIL %
the level of prominence given to the coverage of
NEW 27.6% 22.4% 43.4
elections?
VISION %
The figures (frequency, table and chart) below
DAILY 50.0% 43.1% 6.9%
present findings on the level of prominence with
NATION
which the Zambia Daily Mail, New Vision and
Daily Nation covered the 2016 presidential Total 100.00 100.0 100.0
election. The variables under this section are Table 4. Percent of placement of election
placement of story, number of lead stories,
enhancement of story and number of pictures used.
Placement of story
TABLE 3
PLACEMENT OF THE STORY
PA CATEG DAIL NEW DAILY
GE ORY Y VISIO NATIO
NO MAIL N N
(section)
1 Front 39 17 (lead 29(lead
stories
page (lead stories) stories)
stories Figure 1: Percent of placement of election
) stories
1 Front 10 33 4 Table 3, 4 and Figure1 above shows the
page distribution of stories on the election coverage in
(Other) terms of their placement (location) in the Daily
Mail, New Vision and Daily Nation in comparison.
2& Any 10 29 4
As can be seen, the most proportion of the lead
othe other
stories carried by the Zambia Daily Mail were in
r page
“front pages” with (66.1%). In New Vision
Tota 59 79 58 placement of stories in “front page” were (27.6%)
l while those in “front pages i.e. lead stories or
headline” in the Daily Nation were (50%). Front

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page (other section) for Daily Mail was 16.9%, Total 111 197 100.0
New vision (22.4%), Daily Nation (43.1%), Any stories
other page for Daily Mail in location of stories was
Table 5. Number of pictures used by the three
(16.9%), New Vision 43.4% and Daily Nation
Daily Newspapers
(6.9%).
Figure 2: Number of lead stories with
Enhancement of stories
enhancement in the election stories
TABLE 5
Table 5 and pie chart above in Figure 2 shows
Paper Number Out of Percentage the number of stories with enhancement. The pie
of of pictures charts above illustrate the type of enhancements
pictures used (lead stories) used. It is observed from the chart
used that out of 59 stories 32 pictures representing
DAILY 32 59 54.2% (54.2%) had photographic enhancement for Daily
MAIL stories Mail, for New Vision out of 76 stories 40 pictures
representing (52.6%) had photographic
NEW 40 76 52.6%
enhancement, for Daily Nation out of 62 stories 39
VISION stories
pictures representing (62.9%) had enhancement. It
DAILY 39 62 62.9% can be summarized that majority of stories had
NATION stories enhancement photograph attached to them.
4.5.2 LEVEL OF FAIRNESS (BIAS)
Fairness in coverage (reportage) of the presidential elections
The variables under this section are the amount of coverage of political parties i.e. the number of stories
about a political party, the difference in amount of
coverage of presidential candidates viz the number
of stories about a presidential candidate in each
newspaper and the amount of coverage of election
stories.
R.2: How did the coverage of the Zambia
Daily Mail, New Vision and Daily Nation
newspapers in the 2016 general elections
indicate the level of fairness in its reportage?

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The table below represents the distribution of stories across the political parties covered in both the
Zambia Daily Mail and Daily Nation newspapers by comparison.
(i). Coverage of political parties
TABLE 6
PARTY DAILY MAIL NEW VISION DAILY NATION

S/N No. of stories Percent No. of stories Percent No. of stories Percent

1 MMD 1 7.7% 3 11.1% 5 31.3%

2 PF 3 23.1% 4 14.8% 1 6.3%

3 UPND 8 61.5% 13 48.1% 10 62.5%

4 FDD 1 7.7% 2 7.4% 0 0.0%

5 NAREP 0 0.0% 2 7.4% 0 0.0%

6 GREEN 0 0.0% 1 3.7% 0 0.0%

PARTY

7 RAINBOW 0 0.0% 1 3.7% 0 0.0%

PARTY
8 UNIP 0 0.0% 1 3.7% 0 0.0%

Total 13 100.0 27 100.0 16 100.0

Table 6. Number of stories of political parties covered by the three Daily Newspapers

Figure 3: Percent of coverage of political parties by the three Daily Newspapers

It can be seen from the data in Table 6 and Figure 3 that in these stories UPND had the highest mention
of (61.5%) by Daily Mail, (48.1%) by New Vision and (62.5%) by Daily Nation, followed by MMD
(31.3%) by Daily Nation and PF with (23.1%) by Daily Mail. FDD and MMD was mentioned (7.7%) by
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both Daily Mail. FDD and NAREP had (7.4%) mention by New Vision. The other parties such as Green
party, Rainbow party and UNIP had an equal number of mentions of (3.7%) by New Vision. from the
figure above, Daily Nation did not cover FDD, NAREP, Green party and UNIP. Equally, Daily Mail did
not cover NAREP, Green party, Rainbow party and UNIP.

(ii). Coverage of presidential Candidates

TABLE 7
S/N CANDIDATE DAILY MAIL NEW VISION DAILY NATION
NAME No. of Percent No. of Percent No. of Percent
stories stories stories
1 Nevers Mumba 3 10.7% 3 10.5% 5 12.0%
(MMD)
2 Edgar Lungu (PF) 20 71.4% 4 47.4% 1 56.0%
3 Hakainde 3 10.7% 13 21.1% 10 24.0%
Hichilema (UPND)
4 Edith Zewelani 1 3.6% 2 5.3% 0 8.0%
Nawakwi (FDD)
5 Elias Chipimo Jnr 1 3.6% 2 5.3% 0 0.0%
(NAREP)
6 Peter Sinkamba 0 0.0% 1 5.3% 0 0.0%
(Green Party)
7 W. Kabimba 0 0.0% 1 5.3% 0 0.0%
(Rainbow Party)
8 Tilyenji “Kenneth” 0 0.0% 1 0.0% 0 0.0%
Kaunda (UNIP)
Total 28 100.0 27 100.0 16 100.0

Table 7. Distribution and Number of stories about presidential candidates by the three Daily
Newspaper

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Figure 4.
Fairness in
the
coverage of
political
candidates

As can be
seen from
table 7 and
figure 4 on
the left,
there were
differences in the amount of coverage for each of the presidential candidates received from the three
newspapers. All the newspapers heavily focused on President Edgar Chagwa Lungu. Edgar Chagwa Lungu
had a higher number of mentions in percentage followed by Hakainde Hichilema than any other candidate.
The government-owned Zambia Daily Mail newspaper mentioned president Lungu in the Daily Mail with
(71.4%), New Vision (10.4%) and Daily Nation (56.0%) and president Hakainde (10.7%), New Vision
(21.1%) and Daily Nation (24.0%). This was followed by President Mumba with (10.7 %) Daily Mail,
(10.5%) New Vision and Daily Nation (12.0%). President Nawakwi was mentioned by Daily Mail (3.6%),
New Vision (5.3%) and Daily Nation (8.0%). President Chipimo was mentioned (3.6 %) by Daily Mail,
New Vision (5.3%) and Daily Nation did not mention him. President Sinkamba was mentioned by the New
Vision (5.3%). He wasn’t mentioned by both Daily Mail and Daily Nation. President Kabimba was equally
mentioned by New Vision (5.3%). He was also not mentioned in the Daily Mail and Daily Nation. Tilyenji
Kaunda was mentioned by the three dailies.

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(iii). Coverage of election issues/stories

TABLE 8
ELECTION ISSUE/ DAILY MAIL NEW VISION DAILY NATION
TOPIC
N= Percent N= Percent N= Percent

Election Campaigns 11 18.3% 3 5.8% 6 10.9%

Electoral process issues 10 16.7% 15 28.8% 5 9.1%
Judiciary and legal affaires 3 5.0% 2 3.8% 4 7.3%
Election-related violence 10 16.7% 5 9.6% 8 14.5%
Other election related issues 10 16.7% 13 25.0% 19 34.5%
Election Malpractice (rigging) 2 3.3% 1 1.9% 2 3.6%
Defections from political party to another 2 3.3% 2 3.8% 1 1.8%
Personal attacks on candidates (not 4 6.7% 0 0.0% 3 5.5%
insult)
Labour issues 1 1.7% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Nominations 0 0.0% 1 1.9% 1 1.8%
Political party alliances 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 1.8%
Party manifesto 1 1.7% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Infrastructure 0 0.0% 1 1.9% 0 0.0%
Poverty alleviation 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Personal insults about candidate or party 1 1.7% 2 3.8% 3 5.5%
Corruption or anti-corruption 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Agriculture 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 1 1.8%
Education 0 0.0% 1 1.9% 0 0.0%
Employment 1 1.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Youth participation 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0%
Reconciliation (peace) 5 8.3% 6 11.5% 2 3.6%
Total 60 100.0 52 100.0 55 100.0

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Table 8: Distribution of election issues/stories by the three Daily Newspapers

Figure 5: Percent coverage of election issues/stories by the three Daily Newspapers.

Table 8 and Figure 5 shows the data findings. The analysis above shows that Zambia Daily Mail
covered the electoral process issues, electoral-related violence and other election related issues (16.7 %),
election campaigns (18.3%) and reconciliation (peace) (8.3%) were top three issues. The other issues that
received coverage in the newspaper include: personal attacks on candidates (not insults) (6.7%), Judiciary
and legal affairs (5.0%), election malpractice(rigging) and defections from political party to another
(3.3%), personal attacks about candidate, or party, labor issues and party manifesto (1,7%), and
employment (1.0%).
In the privately-owned New Vision, had a slightly higher coverage given to electoral process issues
(28%), other election related issues (25.0%) Election campaigns reconciliation (peace) (11.5%) more than
New Vision (see table above). Other issues that were covered were: election-related violence (9.6%),
election campaigns (5.8%), personal attacks on candidates (not insults) and personal insults about
candidate or party and judiciary and legal affairs (3.8%), election malpractice (rigging), nominations and
education (1.9%).
On the other had the private-owned Daily Nation had other election related issues (34.5), election
campaigns (10.9%) and electoral process issues (9.1%) as highest covered. Other issues covered include:
personal attacks on candidates (not insults), personal attacks about candidate or party (5.5%), election
malpractice (rigging) and reconciliation (peace) (3.6%), defections from party to another, nominations,
political party alliances and Agriculture (1.8%)

4.5.3 LEVEL OF DOMINANT TONE

Research question 3:
R.3: How did the election stories on the 2016 general elections in the Daily Mail, New Vision and
Daily Nation newspapers show the media’s dominant tone?
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Table 8 below presents results on the tone of items (stories) published in the Zambia Daily Mail, New
Vision and Daily Nation newspapers on the 2016 presidential election elections. The variables under this
section are the dominant tone of stories found in both newspapers on the front page, front page other and
any other section. Tone in stories was measured by three sub-variables either positive (friendly or
conciliatory), negative (hostile or confrontational) or neutral (neither positive nor negative).
TABLE 9
DOMINANT TONE OF MEDIA
Variable DAILY Variable NEW Variable DAILY
MAIL VISION NATION
Dominant Tone No of Dominant Tone No of Dominant Tone No of stories
stories stories
POSITIVE 31 POSITIVE 29 POSITIVE 16
NEGATIVE 20 NEGATIVE 21 NEGATIVE 38
NEUTRAL 8 NEUTRAL 25 NEUTRAL 8

Total no. of 59 Total no. of 76 Total no. of 62

stories analysed stories analysed stories analysed

Table 9: Dominant Tone of the Media

TABLE 10
PAPER PERCENTAGE OF TONE
Sub-variable POSITIVE NEGATIVE NEUTRAL using
words that does not
friendly, conciliatory, hostile, confrontational,
portray story as either
encouraging, adversarial)
negative or positive
exhortation)
DAILY MAIL 52.5% 33.9% 13.6%
NEW VISION 38.2% 27.6% 32.9%
DAILY NATION 25.8% 61.3% 25.8%
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0

Table 10: Percent of Dominant Tone of Media

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Figure 6: Percent of Media’s Dominant Tone by the three Daily Newspapers The findings show that
more than half
(52.5%) out of
31 stories
Zambia Daily
Mail on election
were positive,
(33.9%) out of
20 stories were
negative.
(13.6%) out of 8
stories analyzed
were coded with
neutral tones. In
New Vision (38.2%) out 29 stories were positive, (27.6%) out of 21 stories were negative and (32.9%) out
of 25 stories were neutral. In the Daily Nation (25.8%) out of 16 stories were positive, (61.3%) out of 38
stories were negative and (25.8%) out of 8 stories.
4.6. KEY FINDINGS FROM administered questionnaires. These questions were
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS (RESPONDENTS) mainly answered by journalists.
The study also involved conducting interviews 4.6.1 LEVEL OF PROMINENCE
with key personnel in the sampled media houses. Research Question 1:
The main objective was to have deeper insights
into how the media felt they covered the elections R.1: How did stories in the 2016 general
in-order to establish the correlation between the elections published in the Zambia Daily Mail,
quantitative and qualitative findings of the study New Vision and Daily Nation newspapers show
and the self-assessment of individuals in the media. the level of prominence given to the coverage of
The interviews sought answers to the following elections?
questions; the description of individual media Regarding the question directed at media
house’s coverage of the run up to the August 11th respondents above, I formulated an interview
2016 presidential elections, whether they have in- question as shown below:
house policy regarding election coverage, if the
Question 1: Think back over the media’s coverage
electoral laws in Zambia facilitate media coverage
of the 2016 presidential elections, during election
of elections i.e. the Electoral Commission of
coverage in Zambia, what prominent election
Zambia, the highlighting of successes and
stories appeared most in the media as top stories?
challenges faced so as to suggest improvement in
the coverage of future elections in Zambia. Out of Presentation of Results
the five purposively selected media respondents Respondent 1:
only three gave response. The rest either remained
mute while others said they were busy. To help me 1. Violence 2. Tribalism 3. Malpractice
answer these questions, I formulated research
questions that were answered through self-
Respondent 2:
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1. Personal attack 2. Party Manifesto 3. Political Off course for the State owned it was obvious.
party alliance Further, Journalists were assigned as invisible
image builders for the respective Parties, as such
Respondent 3:
the pipers on played tunes as demanded by those
State owned Media Institutions prioritized the who paid for the tunes. In a nutshell, Political
issues of the ruling party whereas the private Party media coverage was not fair as automatic
owned media prioritized issues of the opposition preferential treatment targets were set by almost
parties. all the media houses depending on who paid the
4.6.2 LEVEL OF FAIRNESS piper.”

Research Question 2: 2. Presidential candidate coverage?

R.2: How did the coverage of the Zambia Daily Respondent 1:

Mail, New Vision and Daily Nation newspapers “The same concept of political party coverage
in the 2016 general elections indicate the level of applies also to a political presidential candidate”
fairness in its reportage?
Respondent 2:
Regarding the question directed at media
“Not fair coverage as only the PF and UPND were
respondents above, I formulated an interview
more covered.”
question as shown below:
Respondent 3:
Question 2: Think back again over the media’s
coverage of the 2016 presidential elections, in “The case of covering the Presidential candidate is
your own words, when it comes to fairness of as in the case of covering Political Parties. In fact,
media coverage, was there adequate coverage by in most cases the Presidential candidate is given
the media in terms of: more coverage than the political party.”
1. Political party coverage? Question 3: What where some of the major
Respondent 1: election stories which the media covered?
Respondent 1:
“Political party media coverage is always
compromised especially where the only national 1. 50 + 1 winning concept 2.
broadcasting media house that is accessed by Referendum 3. Political violence
majority of the population worldwide is pro- Respondent 2:
government. In such a case in my opinion there can
never be fairness in political party coverage unless 1. Presidential candidates 2. Insults
certain things are put in place such as levelling the 3. (no response)
political playing ground for both the ruling and Respondent 3:
opposition parties.”
1. Abuse of Office/Authority 2.
Respondent 2: Tribal/Regional voting 3. Malpractices (Rigging)
“No, because some media houses were biased.” allegations

Respondent 3: Question 4: What where some of the least election

stories which the media covered?
“Note that invisible deals were cut between
political parties and Private owned Media Houses. Respondent 1:

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1. (no response) 2. (No response) 3. (no Question 6: Explain briefly for reason given in
response) the question above.
Respondent 2: Respondent 1:
1. Party Manifestos 2. Defections 3. (no “Most of the private media houses covered the
response) opposition where most of these negative political
incidences where recorded while a few of the pro-
Respondent 3:
government media concentrated on the positive.”
1. Ward Councilors statements 2. Referendum 3.
Respondent 2:
Ineffectiveness of the Electoral Commission of
Zambia “The media gave us more of fights instead of news
on issues.”
4.6.3 LEVEL OF DOMINANT TONE
Respondent 3:
Research question 3:
“Depending on who paid the piper, the Media
R.3: How did the election stories on the 2016
Institutions’ preferred candidate/ political party
general elections in the Daily Mail and Daily
always got the best/positive coverage and space
Nation newspapers show the media’s dominant
whereas the candidates that didn’t pay the piper
tone?
got negative coverage.”
Regarding the question directed at media
respondents above, I formulated an interview
question as shown below: 4.7 Other findings from Questionnaires:
Interview schedules
Question 5: What was the dominant tone of media
coverage of the presidential elections was 4.7.1 Policies on media coverage of elections
1. Negative 2. Positive 3. Regarding the question on policies on media
Neutral coverage of elections directed at media
respondents, I formulated an interview question as
NOTE:
shown below:
*Positive (friendly, conciliatory, encouraging,
Question 1: Do you have in house policies you
exhortation),
follow as a guide in covering elections? If yes skip
*Neutral (using words that does not portray story Q.C2
as either negative or positive)
1. Yes 2. No
*Negative (hostile, confrontational, adversarial)
S/N Respondent Answer
Respondent 1:
1 Respondent 1 YES
Answer: 1=Negative
2 Respondent 2 YES
Respondent 2:
3 Respondent 3 NO
Answer: 1=Negative
Question 2: Do you think the electoral laws in
Respondent 3:
Zambia facilitate easy coverage of elections?
Answer: 3=Negative
Respondent 1:

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“The electoral laws do facilitate for easy Respondent 3:

coverage of elections. However, it is the way some
government wings handle the situation that causes
problems in covering elections by some media
houses”
Respondent 2:
“Yes.”
“NO. However, Zambia has adequate electoral
laws, unfortunately they are selectively
implemented by those responsible. Further, in most
cases, the said laws are only favorably
implemented to the ruling party whereas the
opposition always find themselves on the other side
of such laws. E.G: The Public Order Act.”

4.7.2 Analysis of key successes & challenges in media coverage of elections

4.7.3 Research question 4
R.4: What where the successes and challenges faced by the media during the coverage of the 2016
presidential elections.

Key successes
S/N RESPONNDENT 1
1 Most political parties that want to stand are given a chance to do so without any intimidation
from the ruling party
2 Dissemination of electoral information to the masses is given enough time by the media
3 Election education is conducted even in the remote parts of Zambia to enlighten the public
on the Dos and Don’ts

S/N RESPONDENT 2
1 Election results are quick
2 Election results are made available to all media houses
3 The commission responds to questions from the media

S/N RESPONDENT 3
1 (Unfortunately, there are no successes worth to discuss)
2
3

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Key challenges
S/N RESPONDENT 1
1 Journalists who are engaged by certain political parties to cover their events end up being
biased and not being fair and objective while some reporters from the private media tend to
be hindered from covering the ruling party
2 Usage of government resources by office bearers in offices as well as holding ministerial
positions during campaigns makes it difficult for journalists to exercise professionalism
3 Revoking of public gathering licenses for political parties on last minute by the police
attracts violence by the affected political party which endangers the lives of journalists
assigned to cover such an event

S/N RESPONDENT 2
1 Transportation of journalists to other polling stations
2 Private media houses can’t hire enough man power to cover the elections
3 Some journalists are beaten by cadres during campaigns

S/N RESPONDENT 3
1 Security of Journalists who are perceived to be controversial against a political party is not
guaranteed when covering events especially that even the Police are vulnerable to attacks
from the ruling Party.
2 Most Zambian Media Institutions are financially limping and that trickles down to the
respective Journalists who automatically become vulnerable to the carrots that are dangled
by the politicians.
3 Non-Access to Information Law is one challenge which impedes authoritative collection of
information.

4.7.4 Future coverage of elections

Question: What do you think should be done to improve coverage of future elections in Zambia by
the print media?
S/N RESPONDENT 1
1 Journalists should cover elections independently as a media house not being sponsored by
the political party involved
2 Raiding of print media houses should be discouraged especially by the ruling party when
some publications do not favor them as this causes fear in reporters and editors under print
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media
3 Media houses should have enough resources from media coverage and other logistics

S/N RESPONDENT 2
1 The electoral commission should consider offering some help to private media in terms of
transportation.
2 Media houses should employ enough staff to cover the elections
3 Boost protection for journalist during elections

S/N RESPONDENT 3
1 There is need of enacting the Freedom of Information Bill which shall allow the Media and
the general publics have access to the public and private relevant information.
2 Political parties must take their cadres who are in the habit of intimidating and attacking
Journalists who are perceived to report negative but truthful information of the respective
political party or candidate.
3 Despite carrots being dangled on the faces of Journalists and their respective Media
Institutions, Professionalism must, always be observed.

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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.0 Overview
This chapter summarizes the findings
introduced in the last chapter, by first analyzing
the results and then discussing how they pertain
to the questions addressed in this study posed at
the beginning of the study. This study explored
how the state-owned the Zambia Daily and
private-owned New Vision and the Daily Nation
newspapers covered the 2016 presidential
elections. It involved a content analysis of 108
articles to determine the level of prominence and
fairness as well as the dominant tone of coverage.
This discussion entailed assessment of key points
noted in the findings with inferences from the
perspectives gained through review of the
framing and agenda setting theory and other
related studies discussed in Chapter Two. The
chapter also draws some conclusions of the
comparative analysis of media coverage from
three Newspaper content analysis from
qualitative content analysis, and finally makes
recommendations for future studies.
indicators.
Similarly, to Busher (2006) other types of
newspaper content such as editorials, letters to the
editor, opinion columns and cartoons, where
avoided in this study. The results showed that a
majority (66.1% Daily Mail and 50% Daily
Nation) of the articles analyzed were straight news
(lead) stories. However New Vision had a lower
coverage in headline stories with (27.6%). On the
positive note this was similar with the findings of
Cummings (2006) where more (60.7%) of the
articles were in that category. Miller et al (2012)
also found more articles (89.8%) that were news
stories than editorial, columns or letters and
associated the most of prominence with the
straight news type story. In similitude to the
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5.1 DISCUSSION ON NEWSPAPER
FINDINGS
1. To determine the level of prominence of
election stories covered by selected media outlets
in the 2016 general election.
5.1.1 Level of prominence
As applied here, prominence “refers to the
positioning of a story within a text to
communicate its importance” (Kiousis, 2004, p.
71). Argued by Watts et al (1993), stories in the
media show their importance to the audience
virtue of their placement, length, or treatment. A
story’s prominence is influenced by its
placement, size, pictures and other aesthetic tools
(Kiousis, 2004). Therefore, this study measured
the level of prominence given to the 2016
presidential elections by using type of story (lead
story), placement (location) of story and
enhancement type (number of pictures used) as
findings in this study, it is apparent from this
study that the coverage of the media in terms of
prominence in the 2016 presidential elections by
type of story was prominent enough. Miller et al
(2012) asserted that prominence includes the
location (front page, front section, elsewhere) of
stories. This study accordingly measured
prominence by taking into cognizance the
placement of the story. As noted by Andrade
(2013), stories located on the front page of
newspapers are more prominent than those found
elsewhere. Similar with the findings of Miller et al
(2012) that about a quarter of the stories analyzed
were placed on the front pages. Front other and
any other page were less than 50%. As noted by
Saunders (2006), the front page of newspapers is
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reserved for high profile personalities.it is
apparent that in the 2016 presidential elections the
Media treated the election stories with much
prominence in terms of placement.
Another variable that was used to measure the
level of prominence was enhancement of stories
(number of pictures used). Khan (2003) in a study
for instance measured the level of prominence
given to the election petition in terms of whether
stories were accompanied with visuals or not. The
results in this current study showed that most of
the stories in the distribution had photographic
enhancement which was above (50%). Daily Mail
(54.2%), New Vision (52.6%) and Daily Nation
(62.9%). It can be summarized that majority of
stories had enhancement photograph attached to
them. Consequently, it could be said that the
coverage of the 2016 elections was with much
prominence. Stories are framed by the media
through pictures are attached to them. Thus,
framing the elections and setting the agenda by
telling the audience what to think and how to
think about issues in society.
2. To ascertain the level of fairness with
which the selected media outlets reported on
the 2016 general elections
5.1.2 Level of Fairness (Bias)
As shown in the findings section Mr. Edgar
Chagwa Lungu and Mr. Hakainde Hichilema
stories dominated the Zambia Daily Mail, New
Vision and the Daily Nation newspapers, although
there were differences in the amount of coverage
each of the presidential candidates received from
all the newspapers. But both newspapers heavily
focused on president Edgar Chagwa Lungu and
Hakainde Hichilema.
Edgar Chagwa Lungu had a slightly higher
percent with all newspapers, followed by
Hakainde Hichilema and Nevers Mumba. The
other candidates received even lesser coverage.
The discrepancy in coverage can be attributed and
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not limited to first, more resources at the disposal
of the government owned newspaper that might
have enabled it to hire and pay several
correspondents in different parts of the country
where candidates campaigned to cover the
elections. From the picture analysis and language
captions, the opposition UPND candidate was
covered more not on grounds of popularity but
framing stories in the negative on basis of
violence reported stories in the UPND and being a
political figure in news making thus a higher
mention. The PF candidate equally received
mentions first to the opposition on basis of being a
political figure and a ruling party.
Secondly, it could have been ideologically
prudent for all the three dailies to publish more
favorable articles of president Lungu to counter
the ‘opposition propaganda’. The results indicated
that all newspapers gave the ruling more coverage
than any other presidential candidate. Also, all the
newspapers offered scarce coverage to third-party
candidates. This was probably because
newspapers largely frame presidential election as
a two-way contest between an incumbent and
another candidate with higher chances of winning.
Thirdly, as Schomback (2008) earmarks,
commercial news media are profit and power
driven and do not necessarily devote themselves
to the service of public interest. This means that
they are more likely to concentrate on candidates
with a potential to generate revenue in terms of
copy sales, and these are people common in the
public domain. Commercialization of news and
pressure to generate profit are seen to be the
reasons in pushing media outlets to preference
‘horse-race’ coverage.
On party coverage findings indicate otherwise.
As indicated earlier, Miller and Riechert (2001)
advocated that in the process of frame
identification, key words should be mapped out
and counted in terms of frequency within the data
collected. Accordingly, fairness of each story
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analyzed was determined by identifying key
words that denoted a slant towards any side or
otherwise. The findings of this study were that
UPND had the highest mention of (61.5%),
followed by MMD (31.3%) and PF with (23.1%)
by all the newspapers. These results indicate a
similar suggestion that media frames political
issues. These results are supported by findings on
amount of party coverage by Davis (2004) who
examined how the mass media framed the South
African general elections in 2004. It was found
out that newspaper coverage of political parties
was generally neutral and the incumbent party in
power, African National Congress (ANC),
dominated the coverage followed by the main
opposition party, Democratic Alliance (DA). This
current study supports the tenets of Davis’
findings in literature review, the ruling party (PF)
dominated the coverage.
In the core principle of agenda setting theory
which is; “the prominence of elements in the news
influences the prominence of those elements
among the public” (Carol & McCombs, 2003, p.
36), the first level is concerned with the salience
of objects (public issues or public figures) and the
second level is concerned with the salience of the
characteristics of those objects (Carol &
McCombs, 2003, p. 38), is agreeable to the fact
that news media present an agenda of those topics
and they also describe each one. Therefore,
prominence of opposition party’s coverage and
incumbent ruling party coverage was based on
public figures in the parties and
commercialization pressure to sell their papers. It
is therefore argued after an analysis of these
results that these parties (UPND, PF and MMD)
were most active on the campaign and had high
profile leaders that attracted the media to cover
their election events. It also suggests that the other
parties which had either the least coverage or were
not covered at all in the study period was because
they had no profile figures in their parties. The
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fact that election stories indicated high levels of
bias (unfairness) leaving out other parties in the
way the newspapers covered the electoral issues is
supported by MISA (2016) and Cummings et al
which all found high levels of bias in the
newspapers they studied (Cummings 2006,
Grbesa ,2012, Goretti, 2007, Khan,2003).
On election topics as discovered in the results
section the Daily Mail had 16.7% electoral related
violence and election related issues, (16.7%)
election campaigns, New Vision had (28.1%)
political process issues, (11%) campaigns and
peace, (6.7%) personal attacks on candidates; and
Daily Nation had (34.5%) election related issues,
(10.9%) election campaigns, (5.5%) personal
attacks on candidates. It is conclusive from the
results that top issues captivated the attention of
all the newspapers in the presidential cycle and
were identical - suggesting that the election
related issues, electoral violence, electoral
campaigns and personal attacks on candidates
dominated the three newspapers were framed in
the coverage as central issues of concern for the
ordinary. This on the other hand-suggest that,
poverty alleviation, corruption or anti-corruption,
education and youth participation, education,
agriculture, labor, etc. which were least covered
were framed negatively in the coverage as issues
not central and not of concern for the Zambian
electorate. The prominence given as such in the
findings on the less or no coverage or mention of
a political party, candidate or election issue
supports the tenet from Farnsworth and Lichter’s
studies (2003, p. 91), that “Reporters can choose
not to cover a political actor…they can reduce the
influence of a given actor’s comments by
increasing the attention given to alternative voices
on that topic, and they can even investigate the
claims and find them to be transparent symbols or
even false” It is through this framing perspective
that the public may decide which candidate and/or
issue they will focus their interests.
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It is evident that the focus has thus been on the
trappings of the electoral process, but not the
substance behind the parties nor on developmental
issues that are fundamental to democracy. This
means that the media do not provide Zambians
with enough access to the information they need
to be able to make an informed choice as to who
and which party to vote for to determine the future
of Zambia.
3. To analyze the dominant tone with which
the selected media outlets covered stories on
the 2016 general elections.
5.1.3 Level of Dominant Tone
The results obtained from the preliminary
analysis of the three dailies in the study indicated
that generally, the tone of the coverage was either
positive (52.5%) Daily Mail, (38.2%) New Vision
and (25.8%) Daily Nation or Negative (33.9%)
Daily Mail, (27.6%) New Vision and (61.3%)
Daily Nation or neutral (40.2%). This is however
opposite to the findings of Busher’s (2006) study
of the tone with which the New York Times
framed Hillary Clinton and found that most the
articles had neutral tones. This study does not
further support Andrade (2013) who also found a
generally neutral/positive tone in the coverage of
Julian Assange by English and Spanish
newspapers from various continents. The findings
of this study supported the assertion by Brunken
(2006) that the tone of elitist newspapers was
more positive in their coverage since the Daily
Mail can be classified as an elitist newspaper in
Zambia and is government owned. Most of the
stories covered were positive in the sense that
newspapers needed to cover such stories of the
incumbent ruling party as the party belongs to the
government. The Daily Nation was more negative
of the three newspaper towards its reportage of
which in comparison it had (61%) as opposed to
(3.3%) of Daily Mail. The new Vision was
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(27.6%). One reason suggested is that it is a pro-
government private owned newspaper thus its
high negative dominant tone especially towards
the opposition parties.
5.2 DISCUSSIONS ON MEDIA
RESPONDENT FINDINGS
5.2.1 Level of Prominence of election stories
Presentation of results in the results section
indicated that the respondents ranked Violence,
Tribalism, Malpractice, Personal attack, Party
Manifesto, Political party alliance as prominent
election stories covered by the media. However,
findings in the newspaper content analysis
indicate topics such as violence, personal attacks
were more prominent. Other stories such as
malpractice, party manifesto and political alliance
were covered by the media but had not much
prominence. Tribalism was one factor that was
prominent but did not occur as key research word
in the newspaper content. The third respondent
said that the “State-owned Media Institutions
prioritized the issues of the ruling party whereas
the private owned media prioritized issues of the
opposition parties”
Qualitative descriptive analysis on the
perception of media respondent on the level of
prominence indicate that the media framed, and
agenda set the elections, a similar finding with the
newspaper content analysis. Amoakohene (2007)
concluded that the level of prominence given to
political stories is mainly because of relations
between political systems and the media.
5.2.2 Level of Fairness of Newspaper in its
reportage
It is very clear from the respondent’s
perception that political party and presidential
candidate coverage was compromised and unfair.
This is in correlation with the newspaper content
analysis in which Hakainde Hichilema and
Chagwa Lungu had more coverage including the
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political parties. For example, from the interview
schedule, all the respondents had this to say on
political party coverage:
Respondent 1:
“Political party media coverage is always
compromised especially where the only national
broadcasting media house that is accessed by
most of the population worldwide is pro-
government. In such a case in my opinion there
can never be fairness in political party coverage
unless certain things are put in place such as
levelling the political playing ground for both the
ruling and opposition parties.”
Respondent 2:
“No because some media houses were biased.”
Respondent 3:
“Note that invisible deals were cut between
political parties and Private owned Media
Houses. Off course for the State owned it was
obvious.” Further, Journalists were assigned as
invisible image builders for the respective Parties,
as such the pipers on played tunes as demanded
by those who paid for the tunes. In a nutshell,
Political Party media coverage was not fair as
automatic preferential treatment targets were set
by almost all the media houses depending on who
paid the piper.”
The findings above are similar with the
literature reviewed from the study done by Temin
& Smith (2002) on the tone of the state-owned
newspaper’s reportage with both the incumbent
and opposition parties receiving largely positive
or neutral coverage, with relatively few negative
stories appearing in the state-owned press.
5.2.1.1 On Presidential candidate coverage
respondents said:
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Respondent 1:
“The same concept of political party coverage
applies also to a political presidential candidate”
Respondent 2:
“Not fair coverage as only the PF and UPND
were more covered.”
Respondent 3:
“Abuse of Office/Authority, Tribal/Regional
voting, Malpractices (Rigging) allegations”
Qualitative findings on presidential candidates
and election stories correlate with the findings on
quantitative findings were more attention and
undue coverage was given to the UPND and PF
though followed by MMD and in addition,
substantial developmental election stories had
lower coverage by the media. This is unlike the
support by Temin & Smith (2002) in literature
review of this study who noted that while the
media endeavored significant efforts to ensure fair
coverage to the various political parties, the ruling
NDC received the bulk of attention. In this study
it was both the major opposition and ruling parties
who received the bulk of attention as noted earlier
on.
5.2.1.2 The major election stories which the
media covered
On major election stories in which the media
covered 50+ 1 winning concepts, and referendum
were not covered as key research topics in the
newspaper content analysis except for defections,
party manifestos, political violence i.e. attacks on
candidates and political parties and insults and
violence related issues (tribalism/regional voting).
In short, these are some of the issues which media
concentrated more. The media framed the
elections most stories that concern developmental
issues such education, health, youth participation
were not major central topics of coverage. One
supposition is that most political parties also do
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not talk about these issues but rather concentrate
on attacking each other and desiring to gain more
coverage.
5.2.2.3 The least election stories which the
media covered
One media respondent (media representative)
narrated that ward councilors statements,
referendum and Ineffectiveness of the Electoral
Commission of Zambia were the least stories
covered by the media.
5.2.3 Level of Media’s Dominant Tone
Regarding the question directed at media
respondents on media’s dominant tone two
respondents from the findings section indicated
that media coverage was more negative and only
one respondent said it was neutral. The reason
given by both media respondents cannot
overemphasised as quoted below:
Respondent 1:
“Most of the private media houses covered the
opposition where most of these negative political
incidences where recorded while a few of the pro-
government media concentrated on the positive.”
Respondent 2:
“The media gave us more of fights instead of
news on issues.”
Respondent 3:
“Depending on who paid the piper, the Media
Institutions’ preferred candidate/ political party
always got the best/positive coverage and space
whereas the candidates that didn’t pay the piper
got negative coverage”.
5.2.4 Policies on media’s coverage of
elections
On the interview questions which included
policies on media coverage, two respondents
indicated that they had existing in-house policy
which they follow and supported that the electoral
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laws in Zambia do facilitate the easy coverage of
elections. It is noted, however, from one
respondent as quoted that:
“….it is the way some government wings
handle the situation that causes problems in
covering elections by some media houses”
The respondent who was not certain on having
an in-house policy narrated that despite this:
“…Zambia has adequate electoral laws,
unfortunately they are selectively implemented by
those responsible.”
The two other respondents on the other hand
further said, in most cases, the said laws are only
favorably implemented to the ruling party whereas
the opposition always find themselves on the other
side of such laws. E.g. The Public Order Act.
Two respondents from the public media noted
that the Electoral (Code of conduct) regulations
provided enough guidelines as indicated in the
findings section. It suggests that policies are
published for the awareness of all parties involved
as well as government institutions. However,
some government institutions do not adhere to
these policies which affect media houses in their
respective job description. This way, journalists
though properly guided throughout the electoral
process, do not execute their duties well.
5.2.5 Successes and Challenges of media
coverage
All the respondents as can be seen from the
results section on media coverage claimed that
most political parties that want to stand are given
a chance to do so without any intimidation from
the ruling party the ruling government adheres to
the provisions in the electoral laws for any party
to stand for any position.
Second, dissemination of electoral information
to the masses is given enough time by the media
and election education is conducted even in the
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remote parts of Zambia to enlighten the public on
the Dos and Don’ts which is a good indicator of
media’s role an educator.
Third, respondents claimed that election results
are quick and are made available to all media
houses and finally the commission (ECZ)
responds to questions from the media.
The above suggest that the media is doing well
in covering of elections when it comes to election
education, transmission of election results, and
dissemination of electoral information to the
masses. On the other hand, this study brought to
the fore many challenges encountered by media
practitioners in their quest to inform the electorate
about the activities of political parties. ZANIS and
ZNBC respondents indicated that the most
outstanding challenge was revoking of public
gathering licenses for political parties on last
minute by the police which attracts violence by
the affected political party and therefore
endangers the lives of journalists assigned to
cover such an event. In addition, the security of
Journalists who are perceived to be controversial
against a certain political party is not guaranteed
when covering events especially that even the
police are vulnerable to attacks from the ruling
Party Second, lack of resources both financial and
human is a hindrance to coverage of elections.
This is with private media houses as indicated by
one respondent. He said, “Private media houses
can’t hire enough man power to cover the
elections”.
Fourth, journalists fail to exercise their
professionalism. In her own words, a media
respondent said, “Usage of government resources
by office bearers in offices as well as holding
ministerial positions during campaigns makes it
difficult for journalists to exercise
professionalism”.
Fifth, “Journalists who are engaged by certain
political parties to cover their events end up being
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biased and not being fair and objective because
they are what one respondent said, “dangled with
carrots” meaning given tips to cover news while
some reporters from the private media tend to be
hindered from covering the ruling party finally,
transportation of journalists to other polling
stations is difficult and some journalists are beaten
by cadres during campaigns.
Sixth, there is need of enacting the Freedom of
Information Bill to allow the Media and the
general publics have access to the public and
private relevant information.
All the above factors make the coverage of
elections become unfair. It is most likely what was
experienced in the recent 2016 presidential
elections.
5.2.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE
COVERAGE OF ELECTIONS
The fact that political violence affected most
journalists in their work cited as the biggest
challenge “raiding of print media houses should
be discouraged especially by the ruling party
when some publications do not favour them as
this causes fear in reporters and editors under print
media”. Since this is inevitable sometimes, it is
highly recommended to boost protection for
journalist during elections.
Second lack of both financial and human
resources was the second biggest challenge cited,
respondents suggested that, Media houses should
have enough resources for media coverage and
other logistics, by employing enough staff to
cover the elections especially the private media. In
addition, the electoral commission should
consider offering some help to private media in
terms of transportation, to enable them to cover
the elections more effectively. This way media
houses would have no excuse to give for failure to
cover some political parties because of lack of
transport or other resources whatever the nature.
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Finally, Journalists should cover elections
independently as a media house not being
sponsored by the political party involved as this
will promote professionalism for journalists and
increase the fairness or balanced coverage of
presidential elections.
5.3 Implication for the Framing and agenda
setting Theory
The findings of this study support the tenets of
the framing theory and agenda setting. In
coverage of political parties, other parties had less
coverage or literally no record of coverage by the
media in the study period apart from PF, MMD,
UPND and FDD. Through framing and agenda, a
setting, the reportage on the election the media
had the potential to lead readers to perceive the
election as peaceful since the dominant tone of the
coverage was either positive or Negative. All the
papers framed most of the election stories not
devoid of confrontation and adversaries thus could
have instigated any form of political conflict or
violence in the country in its reportage.
Most stories were on personality and personal
attacks especially among political parties and a
few political giants deduced from the thematic
content of tone of the newspapers. While this
evidence does seem to support the framing and
second-level agenda setting theories, one must
contemplate what the media’s true power and
influences are over public opinion. It is important
to note that while media framing of candidates
may be powerful, it is not universal. Ross (1992)
concluded that other outside forces, besides the
media, can affect public perception. Therefore,
other variables beside the media may be at play
when public opinions are developed. By not
covering important developmental issues such as
agriculture, health, education, youth
empowerment, employment was also framed by
the newspapers.
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5.4 The Influence of Media framing and
agenda setting on Media and Public Opinion on
coverage of the 2016 presidential elections
It is important to examine the frames and
agenda setting in the news coverage of
presidential elections during this election because
numerous studies have shown that the way an
event or individual is framed, and agenda set can
have an influence on people’s perceptions of that
event or individual. An influence of the media
lies within its ability to frame. Frames put the
complexity of the world into context to help
individuals make sense of the world around them.
Druckman (2001) suggested that framing effects
occur because citizens do not seek out additional
information, but instead look to credible sources
for answers. The literature on the impact of
framing is extensive and shows that differences in
framing can have influences on public
perceptions. There is little doubt that people learn
about the candidates through the media. This in
turn has an influence on perceptions and
eventually on the choice voters make when
voting. Voters’ evaluations of candidates are
influenced by factors such as the voter’s party
identification, the voter’s evaluation of the
candidate’s issue position, the voter’s evaluation
of the candidate’s personality, and the voter’s
assessment of the candidate’s viability (Kahn,
1994a, 1994b).
According to Kahn (1994a, 1994b), the way
the media frame political campaigns can influence
the way voters perceive the candidate. The media
also can influence public perceptions of
presidential elections. The ways in which the
photographers, journalists, and editors choose to
report election stories can trigger violence. While
the study is not determining a direct correlation
between newspaper readership and voting
behavior or readership and violence, the results do
call into question the second-level agenda setting
and framing theories as they pertain to local
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newspaper influence. A proliferation of negative
stories did not necessarily yield negative
perceptions in a voter’s mind; at least, not to the
extent to where it would influence voting
behavior. In other words, citizens might have a
negative perception about a candidate and yet still
vote for him. Nevertheless, future studies might
examine this idea more.
In furtherance, McCombs and Shaw (1977) in
Platz (2010, p.3) confirm the influence of agenda
setting on public opinion, they asserted that the
press “largely structures voters’ perception of
reality…the press can exert considerable influence
on which issues make up the agenda for any
particular election” (McCombs & Shaw, 1977,
p.15). It is not a wander that in this study
developmental issues such as education,
infrastructure, agriculture, and youth
empowerment etcetera did not receive much
attention from the media as focus was more on
other electoral issues thus setting an agenda for
people which in turn influenced their voting
opinion or perception. This is well substantiated
by Platz (2010), who confirms that in a given
election, the press chooses from a variety of
campaign topics and determines which topics will
receive the most coverage from more substantial
matters to lesser substantial matters such as horse
race or personal quality stories i.e. personal
attacks and insults. Irrespective of which topics
are covered, the media wields a remarkable deal
of influence by setting the agenda during an
election as the topics frequently chosen and
covered are the ones that citizens will view as the
most significant.
5.5 CONCLUSION
Primarily, this study sought to explore how the
2016 presidential election was framed and the
agenda set by the Zambia Daily Mail, New Vision
and the Daily Nation Newspapers. The analysis of
the findings was to determine the level of
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prominence, ascertain the level of fairness with
which the state-owned and private owned
newspapers covered the election as well as
analyze the dominant tone of the coverage. The
study used the quantitative content analysis and
qualitative content approach to explore the stories.
Generally, stories on the presidential election were
framed prominently in terms of the placement of
headline or lead stories, enhancement (number of
pictures used), coverage of political parties,
coverage of presidential candidates and coverage
of electoral stories/topics, and finally dominant
tone of electoral stories. The agenda was also set
from the less substantial election stories the media
covered which viewers perceived as most
important.
In the 2016 presidential election period, there
has been limited coverage of key issues
concerning citizens to guide their choice of voting
as the focus of the media has been on political
processes and practices. Political actors especially
those covered in the media, are more interested to
discuss processes and events surrounding the pre-
election period rather than discussing the vision
and agenda which should market their political
ideology to the citizens of Zambia. This has been
observed from personal attacks and insights
against each other in politics. In a nutshell, In-
depth analysis of presidential newspaper coverage
is nothing new to academic study. For more than
40 years, countless scholars have examined how
the theories of agenda setting and framing
influence voting behavior. For as long as
democracy thrives in this country, such studies
must continue. All media, especially newspapers,
must be willing to evaluate its coverage of
elections and how that coverage influences voters.
Were certain stories left out? Did one candidate
receive more, better coverage than his/her
opponent? Most importantly, did the media fulfill
its role in effectively informing citizens about
their candidates?
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While this study examined election coverage in
local newspapers by the media in Zambia, voting
behavior and violence related stories, it should be
noted that the typical newspaper reader does not
reflect the general voting population and
culmination of violence. Print news consumers
tend to be older (over age 65), more educated (at
least some post-graduate work) and white collar.
Therefore, generalizations made about the media
coverage of elections in the voting behavior and
violence through newspaper coverage might be
skewed.
Other news media, such as television or the
internet, may also play a stronger role in
influencing voters or violence. Slid majorities find
local and cable television broadcasts are mostly or
somewhat believable. During the election cycle,
significantly more individuals turn to the internet
Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and
Facebook have continued to dominate the
landscape in terms of breaking news and have
offered mainstream media outlets a challenge to
keep up with the fast pace at which they operate
(MISA,2016, p.22). Oher sources include Radio
and Television as a source of news, a shift in
media consumption away from newspapers might
be placing greater agenda setting power on other
news media. As earlier scholars (Entman, 1993;
Ross, 1992) have pointed out, other factors beside
the media may be at play when determining
voting behavior. These factors can include
anything from socio-economics and upbringing to
the influence of one’s peers. As such, the
diminishing number of employment levels.
Despite the above observation on the limitation
of findings, the results of this study still suggest
that the role of local newspapers in this critical
democratic process may be waning. The
uncertain, evolving nature of the current
newsroom business model is no doubt taking its
toll on the quality and breadth of stories
newspapers can offer as commercialization is
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taking toll. However, whatever form or business
model the media may take in the future, one thing
is for certain: all media outlets – whether it be the
internet or television, radio or newspapers must
offer their audience quality, unique coverage to
compete and stay viable. Regardless if the media
succeeds in telling consumers how or what to
think, the media’s vital democratic role of
informing citizens in the present and future must
remain its top priority.
5.6 RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Although findings generated from the study
were very useful, the generalizability of the
results to other media types such as radio and
television, should be treated with caution. This
is because the study was limited to only the
Zambia Daily Mail, New Vision and Daily
Nation newspaper’s coverage of the 2016
presidential elections. It is therefore
recommended that future studies consider a
Television and Radio comparative study in
Zambia which would be very interesting to
adopt a broader media studies in the coverage
of election issues by not looking at newspapers
only.
2. From the study in the selected period, there is a
need to increase the coverage of topics relevant
to citizens’ choices of who and which party to
vote for. Topics such as the eradication of
poverty, education, health, agriculture, and
employment would merit being addressed in
relation to each party’s manifesto. Balance the
coverage of different political parties; this
means there is a need to increase the present
amount of coverage of opposition and smaller
opposition parties.
3. Media organisations must realise that the
period for elections provides an opportunity for
them to help Zambians decide futures the
country ensuring that all the activities by
political players are highlighted. In a nutshell,
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the media should not merely report what the reporters and editors under print media for fear
various political parties are saying but should of being raided by the ruling party.
also endeavour to bring to the fore issues that 9. Media houses should have enough resources
the citizens would like the parties to explain or for media coverage and other logistics to meet
how they intend to address certain issues if all costs of adequately covering presidential
they voted for them. This way the electorate elections.
would be able to decide the best candidates
based on the responses to the issues raised. 10. Media houses especially the private media
should employ enough staff to cover the
4. Media must avoid the influence of commercial
elections.
pressures on media coverage.
Commercialization of news and pressure to 11. Journalists should cover elections
generate profit are the reasons which push independently as a media house not being
media outlets to preference ‘horse-race’ sponsored by the political party involved to
coverage. A balanced and fair broadcast media increase fairness in coverage of elections.
should not be even inclined to favor game 12. Journalists should be protected at all cost
coverage. ‘Profit making’ kind of coverage can from public violence which is because of either
leave journalists open to accusations of bias political party violence or legal institutions
5. Media organisations should take deliberate interference in political campaigns which
measures to publish policies in newspapers to sparks and precipitates the violence. The police
provide guidance on how to report the should take up the role of protecting the
elections. Even in an event that these journalists.
guidelines are drawn media practitioners must 13. Public institutions should support the
commit adherence to them. The practitioners media rather than exacerbating the journalist in
will have the content with the provisions in the their work of covering elections which in their
Electoral Act of covering elections but most of interference intimidates them in reporting fairly
them fail to adhere to in full. on elections.
6. The Media’s focus should be on peoples’ need
to be given information on democratic issues as
much as it is their role to report violence. In
addition, the media should access other
political copies of their manifestos and other
relevant documents such as plans of actions to
the media to enable the media to write well
researched stories or come up with the ideas to
be used as basis for conducting interviews.
7. The media should be neutral than being pro-
government in its functionality as watch-dog
and mediator between the government and the
people.
8. Media freedom should be exercised by the
ruling government so as not to discourage
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to acknowledge all the invaluable
assistance rendered to me by the following
individuals during the course of this work in order
to bring it to fruition: My supervisors Mr. Kelvin
Chibomba and Mr. Kaela Kamweneshe (IJMDR-
Editor), for their constructive suggestions,
meticulous editing ,calm, patient and endearing
spirit which made my work and life easy, Dr.
Richard Silumbe and Dr. Sycorax Tiyesa Nhdlovu
for their encouragement to work hard towards
completion of my course , Mr. Maybin Kabubi for
guidance on data analysis and constant
supervision on final paper or dummies for
approval, Father Francis Chishala and Mr.
Andrew Chinambu for the help with the content
analysis method , and all my classmates during the
undergraduate studies and journalist friends in the
media whom I had turned into a surrogate family
in helping me with the qualitative research;
Michelo Tembo , Brian Mulamba, Maureen
Lishando, Jane Simalumba ,Choolela
Oneshabachele, Peter Chirwa and Eric Mandonda
–thanks for all the material, spiritual and moral
support; and to all my family and other people
who were connected in one form or another to the
realization of this dream.
Finally, thanking the hardworking staff at ICU
from the time I started my academic journey, who
I watched with the expansion of ICU Zambia.
Special thanks also go to Information
Communications University/ZRDC in helping me
acquire an education through its training faculty
and Nation Archives of Zambia for allowing me
to have access to the 2016 Newspaper articles to
develop this research. To you all I shall forever
remain indebted and may God bless you
abundantly in all your endeavors.
Paper-ID: CFP/1195/2019 www.ijmdr.net
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